The Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital in Bacolod City recently acquired a Siemens Somatom Sensation 64-Slice CT scanner that will optimize diagnosis of ailments with the lowest radiation exposure to patients, Dr. Jose Maria Coruña, chief medical officer, said at a press conference yesterday.

The 64-Slice CT scan is the only one of its kind in Western Visayas so patients here no longer have to go to Manila to avail of the same procedure, Coruña said.

Reggie Ng, Siemens vice president for sales, said the equipment is capable of loading around 3000 images with high quality visuals of full body scans.

He said a single rotation of the machine, gets 64 slices as compared to the conventional CTs where slices are limited, adding that, it scans faster and patients are exposed to lower radiation.

Other capabilities of the 64-Slice CT include a fully automated bone segmentation for rapid visual of complex fractures, automated segmentation of vascular structures, accurate vessel measurement tools, and it has higher temporal resolution for robust cardiac imaging, Ng also said.

Dr. Rosario Pilar Rosina Esteban, chairman of the Department of Imaging Science of the hospital said the equipment can also capture tumors even at 0.05 centimeters and it has the 3-dimensional reconstructions to see the actual image of the bone fracture or tumors.

With the capacities of the machine, it means that the it has to perform more slices, making a procedure more complicated, and the more expensive is the payment, Esteban added.

However, Socorro Victoria de Leon, corporate finance officer, said they have benchmarked their rates with other hospitals offering the same procedures and that these are definitely much lower than Manila prices.

She added that rates depend on the examinations that patients have and the hospital also give discounts.

Arlene Ledesma, president and chief executive officer of DPOMH, said getting the equipment is a major investment for the hospital because it is not something that any hospital can acquire.

They had to make a special room for it and their doctors, radiologists, and cardiologists were trained for the special procedures that only this machine can do, Ledesma added. *LTG

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